Never Fear The Sun
by PinkWhirlWind
Summary: Spoilers... at the end of and after The Deathly Hallows, this story takes an alt path and Snape finds healing and love


Never Fear the Sun

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or his universe.

Warning: SPOILERS!!! Note that, ne? This story is set AFTER 'The Deathly Hallows'. The spoilers are for the Deathly Hallows, as this story is set directly after. Character growth….. Characters are going to grow and change in this story. Extra spoiler!!! I'm a yaoi fan, please be warned.

Never Fear the Sun

Chapter One

Ananyn Curase apparited to the front steps, brushed the back of his hand over a blue silk brocade sleeve with practiced nervousness and took a slow breath. It had been, at least a year since he'd visited. Head tilting slowly backwards, eyes growing wider as he took in the evident age of the 'Shrieking Shack', he had to admit to himself that a year was a close approximation and well, he wasn't entirely that sure of it. A step back and he was looking up at the sorriest card house of rotting wood and long forgotten good wishes that he'd ever seen, and he'd seen quite a lot. Remus was going to be put out with him. James would never let him live this down and he had promised Severus, he really had.

The small pop of his companion appariating in next to him drew his attention downwards to a fine white cat with a diamond in the center of her forehead. He laced his fingers behind his back, pursed his lips. "We seem to be late."

"Flirting up fairies will do that to you," the cat said, one paw shivering slightly as she seemed to try to shake some vile dust from her paw. "I smell blood. Someone is dying."

Ananyn withdrew a fine white wand, gold spiral around it and pointed it at the door. "Ouvertnomi"

The door pushed open and Ananyn moved forward, wand at the ready. "Not just blood, fire, smoke, dark magic. Something vile plays out."

Her paws hit him, and then her weight was stretched over his shoulder. "We've come at just the right time," she said, her tone full of sarcasm. "I think your friends have long since left this place, Ana."

"Perhaps," he said, moving up the stairs cautiously, back to the wall, but not touching it, wand almost shivering in response to the dark magic lingering in the air. "Someone is here."

"Is it good for you to be near so much blood, Ana," she whispered in his thoughts, voice too low for any other to hear.

"I am well," he said. Ananyn hardly looked like a danger to anyone or like the kind of wizard one would call in as a consultant when one's child has been bitten by a werewolf. Golden hair lay in curls around a delicate face, which was a touch too pale to complete the image of good health. Even his lips were closer to gray than rose, but his eyes sparkled with curiosity and intelligence. They were not eye which knew nor accepted fear of anything, much. At the top of the stairs, he uttered the same soft spell that he'd used to push open the door below and was confronted with such darkness that he hardly thought he'd seen it's like more than once or twice in his life. "I lied. Severus?"

His friend lay face down, robes of black and silver, an iron cage around his head. Forgetting the most basic rules of his own existence, Ananyn had already crossed the room, knelt in the pooling blood. "Help me, Kien, please? Is he alive? Who could have done something like this? Severus!"

Weight gone from his shoulder, the sound of her transformation was musical, sweet, though not something one could really hear, more the sweet swelling of joy in his soul. A hoof stamped against the rotting wood of the old shack that had hid another of his friends. No longer a pet cat, her true form filled the room with a light that drove out darkness, quieted the demons in Ananyn's blood and sent golden light bleeding through the cracks of the walls. "Get the cage from around his head. I think he lives, but it interferes with my magic. "Alohomora!"

Ananyn flung the cage that had been round Severus' head with all his strength. It hit the wall and slid down with a condemning clatter. "He's been bitten, but it couldn't have been a vampire, could it?"

There on his knees, Severus' limp form pulled up onto his lap, one hand brushed limp hair from his friend's face, even while he looked up hopefully at his best friend. Away from the blood, being very careful not to touch the blood, Ananyn sought a pulse. "He is still alive." His last word blended very quickly into a song of healing.

Kein moved closer, head tilting down to touch the tip of her horn to Ananyn's wand. As soon as the tips connected an arch of golden light tented over Severus, slowly moving to complete a sphere that lifted the terribly wounded man from the bare wood floor. Ananyn began to shake as the spell continued. Finally Severus drew a deep breath, his own body shaking, and rolled in the bubble, now suspended between the tip of a unicorn horn and the golden white tip of Ananyn's wand.

The spell broke as soon as Severus reached for Ananyn. It wasn't far to fall to the ground and Severus landed on his hands and knees, head up, eyes full of surprise. "Ananyn Curase? What are you doing here?"

"Saving you, obviously? Who did this? Why are you wearing headmaster robes?"

Severus wobbled as he rose, one hand already pulling his wand from his robes. "Hogwarts is under attack by He-who-must-not-be named," he snarled, and "Lilly's brat is going to get himself killed. There must be another way!"

"Who?"

Severus was already moving rapidly towards the door, with Ananyn following quickly behind him. Kein's leap to his shoulder, in her feline form only brought him restored strength and made the adventure more enticing.

"Harry Potter," Snape, no longer feeling either dead nor passive growled."

"Harry Potter? Is he related to James? Who is 'He-who-must-not-be-named'?"

"Where have you been?" Snape asked, dark eyes narrowing, "You haven't aged at all."

"Yes, well, there are certain," Ananyn said, wand moving quickly over cleansing spells that restored his tunic and pants to pristine condition, "So? Who is he?"

"Harry Potter," Snape lectured, still running back towards hogwarts, "Lilly married Potter, James Potter, and they had a child."

"And 'He-who-must-not-be-named," Ananyn asked again, as Kein leapt from his shoulder and hit the ground with hooves. Ananyn mounted, as she slowed for him, gliding up with a combination of familiar spell and long familiarity. He held out his hand and Snape glared. "Severus! Do you want to get there or do you just want to run off all the healing energy I've just poured into you?"

Their hands locked and Ananyn held his breath for a moment. Severus was no longer a willful young man in the last breath of his youth. The grip was tight and strong and Ananyn swung him up behind. "I thought you were going to marry Lily," Ananyn said, leaning close over Kein's neck, letting her reach for her greatest speed.

"It has been a long time, Ananyn. Where have you been?"

"Went to study the elves, not house elves either. Tall, beautiful, graceful! Wonderful healing arts. So who is this person who doesn't like his name?"

"Can't say his name," Snape said, hands very lightly resting on Ananyn's waist. "He thinks I'm dead and I should like it to stay that way."

Ananyn was about to say something flippant, but just then Hogwarts came into view and both he and Kein stopped dead short. The castle was in worse condition than Remus' house had been. "Holy bloody mother of cats," Ananyn hissed. "It's still going on! People are dying and blood, oh lord of light," he cried, hand over his mouth and nose. "There's a lot of blood."

"You have such a way with words," Snape complained, drool. "Move. You may eat the Death Eaters. It would be a kindness."

"I don't eat people! Not often," Ananyn protested, eyes narrowed, "Who are 'Death Eaters? There are Vampires in the castle?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Snape slide down from Kein's back and ran forward, firing stun curses at those in black robes.

Kein rubbed against Ananyn's leg. "I think we should go to France and come back in a decade."

Ananyn scooped her up and set her on his shoulder as he began running towards the smoking battle scene. "We'll heal a few first."

Snape had gotten a little ahead of him, so that when Ananyn caught up, he found his friend stilled with two wands pointed at him, one from one of the black robed group and another from a red headed young man who looked a great deal like Arthur Weasley. It had indeed been more than a year. 

"Arthur?" Ananyn asked, "Why are you pointing your wand at Severus?"

For course did didn't make sense for Severus to have aged, and Arthur not to have.

The person in the dark robe flicked his wand, ever so slightly, towards Ananyn, but Severus was faster, and the man went flying. Arthur look alike blinked and Ananyn hit him, "Euphorious!"

'Arthur' brushed a touch of red hair out of his eyes, wand hand falling down to his side. "Whad you jus do to me?"

"Euphorious," Ananyn said, moving a little closer. "It just makes you happy, comfortable, slight healing properties. You are not Arthur Weasley, are you?"

"I'm George," the young man said, "My brother and I want to talk to you about this spell, for our shop."

"That is Fred Weasley," Snape said, catching Fred by the wrist. "Let us get him somewhere safe, as he can no longer defend himself."

"Well, he might have hurt someone as well," Ananyn said. "There are so many people hurt. It's going to take hours to get to them all."

Snape rounded on him then, dark hair almost dancing with the lingering energy that had been used to heal him. "You are not suited to this activity. Curase, take Mr. Weasley and find someplace safe until this battle is won in our favor. Should we lose, take who you can and go far, far away. Where ever it is you go."

With that he gave Fred a good shove towards the blue glad healer. Ananyn caught him, but still continued after Severus.

"His twin can't be far behind," Snape growled, running into the thick of things again, leaving them both behind.

It quickly became apparent that Euphorious would be a very bad spell to be casting on people. In order to protect the man that Snape had left him with, Ananyn cast a charm on him to prevent other people from seeing him, and told him to work at making sure people wouldn't look for him.

This left Ananyn free to find Severus, and ideally James and Remus as well. He really wasn't very good at just searching though. There were too many people injured, too much blood scent in the air for him to focus properly. Healing helped everything, helped keep him from much worse things.

How he ever made it to were everyone else congregated, he wasn't sure. At that point, he could hardly even hear what Kein was complaining at him with. What did get his attention though was James dueling with a very odd looking man.

After a moment though, even through the haze, he realized that this couldn't be James. It must be the child of James and Lily Evans. He was shouting about how Severus had been Dumbledore's for a very long time! How Severus was the bravest man that Harry Potter had ever known. Potions. Severus, brave, yes, but that was about all Ananyn could really process.

Luck was his second best friend though and Severus was there with him, pressing a potion to his lips. "Drink, you fool. Have you no wits at all?"

Sweet, thick, the night potion that only Severus Snape could make, and before it was gone, Ananyn found his thoughts clearing. The duel was finished though and with it, the battle, but Ananyn smiled at his friend. "He thinks you're brave! And you are. Thank you, Severus."

"He is a fool," Snape snarled, shoving potion bottle back into his pocket. "This wizard is a healer of great renown. He is hear to help."

Again they went their separate ways, Ananyn to heal where he could and Snape to lead his students. He had so much to catch up on but right then, there were people to heal.

"


End file.
